Data Backup and Business Continuity (Disaster Recovery)
We are concerned to ensure that all of our customers have plans in place to ensure that their data is securely maintained. We consider it very important that organizations have well thought through plans and provisions for data backup and disaster recovery.
To help you assess the adequacy of your own data backup, please see our current guidelines and recommendations below. If you have any questions on this, or if you wish to enhance your organization's data back-up processes, please contact us.
Data Backup and Disaster Recovery Guidelines
1. Have a robust solution to your data backup needs
Tape backup has long been and continues to be the most cost-effective and reliable method for protecting your organization from data loss. The use of tape backup, effective tape rotation schemes and a comprehensive business continuity plan (disaster recovery plan) is essential to the survival of your business. CTSM's recommended solution for data backup is either a DAT or a DLT tape drive in conjunction with Veritas Backup Exec software.
2. Back up your important data every day
You should have a minimum of 6 and preferably 10 backup tapes which should be used in rotation over a two week period. Each tape should be labelled to indicate its day and week number on the backup rota. In addition, it is worth considering the archiving of data backups on a monthly basis, i.e. taking monthly back-ups and keeping these in an archive.
3. Keep backed up data tapes off-site
In the event of an event such as a fire or a break-in, failure to keep important data off site could result in loss of one of the organisation's most valuable assets - its data. We therefore recommend that a backup tape is kept off-site and updated at least weekly. Data stored on-site should be kept in secure storage.
4. Regularly check your backups are working
Check every morning that the tape has ejected, and check the backup log to ensure that the backup has run successfully. Both ArcServe and Veritas Backup Exec can be configured to send an email to a nominated person(s) to notify of a backup failure. We also recommend that you regularly carry out a test restore of your data from backup to ensure that the restore process works properly.
5. Have a plan for disaster recovery
When a network server fails catastrophically, the computing environment must be carefully recovered before applications and backed-up data can be restored. This is the purpose of disaster recovery. We recommend that you seriously consider adopting an automated disaster recovery system that eliminates the need to manually reinstall the entire operating system after a system crash. Manual disaster recovery is labour intensive, vulnerable to human error and costly in both productivity and loss of revenue. There are a number of good products for automated disaster recovery in the market. For further details please contact CTSM.